By Staff
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor,
Monday morning I got up and came to work as I usually do. I arrived at my workplace, Rachel Patterson Elementary School, with the excitement of what the new week would bring. Faculty, staff, and students had started to arrive for another school day. But, on Monday morning, Oct. 30, the unthinkable happened. One of our local school buses was hit by an eighteen-wheeler and our students were on this bus. Local emergency personnel and police were on the scene immediately.
Our students were taken to the emergency room at Atmore Community Hospital. Upon my arrival, I was pleased to find that the emergency staff had everything under control. For the next three hours, I watched the hospital staff members tend to our children with compassion and utmost care. They remained calm in what could have been chaos.
On behalf of the faculty and staff at Rachel Patterson, I would like to say a heart-felt thank you to our local law enforcement officers and emergency personnel for their quick response to the accident scene. I would also like to thank the emergency staff at Atmore Community Hospital for taking such good care of our students. We are very fortunate to have wonderful community leaders to help us in times of crisis.
We never know what the day holds for us when we begin each day. We can say that today we were very blessed. No one was seriously injured and for that we are truly thankful.
With fond regards,
Susan McKenzie
Principal